Suited Connectors, a Love Story

A type hand that many poker players love is suited connectors. They enjoy being able to make a straight or a flush, as they will have a good chance of raking in a large pot, and suited connectors are the hands best suited to fulfilling the playersâ€™ desire to make a straight or a flush. However, many players have a tendency to fall in love with suited connectors, causing them to make bad plays and lose a large amount of chips.

As with every other poker hand, the first thing you want to consider with suited connectors is position. If you are under the gun and are dealt 8-9 suited, throw them away. Playing this sort of hand is way too dangerous. If you limp in, there is a good chance someone will throw in a raise and make you either put in a lot of chips to play the hand, or fold the hand, losing the bet you put in. This can eat away at a stack fairly quickly, so keep in mind your position. Only play the best suited connectors in early position, A-K or K-Q. One advantage of playing suited connectors from late positionand coming in with a raise is that after the flop you may be able to check to see another card for free, giving you another chance to make your draw.

Another thing to consider before the flop is whether or not the hand is good enough to raise with in your current position. If the table folds to you, your hand should be good enough to raise with if you decide to enter the pot. This puts the pressure on your opponents to fold, and will help disguise your hand if you do make the straight or flush. Winning the pot preflop is always a profitable outcome.

If several players have acted before you, with a few of them limping in, then feel free to limp in yourself. Youâ€™ll be getting the correct odds to make the call, and if you do make your hand you have a chance to win a very large pot.

Keep in mind though, that even if you do make your straight or flush, it may not be the best hand, especially with a lot of people in the pot. Say you are holding 10h-9h, and the board reads Kc-7h-4h-10d-3h. Youâ€™ve made your flush but it is quite possible that one of your opponents could be holding something like Ah-Qh or Kh-Qh. Your flush is a good hand, but it may not be the best. You need to read your opponents and gauge how strong their hand is.

One good thing about suited connectors is that postflop decisions are usually pretty easy. If your suited connectors did not improve to a four-flush or four-straight they become ever easy to fold to any bet that is made. The only difficult decisions come when you have come up with a good draw and are facing a large bet. Do you want to risk a lot of chips trying to chase the draw, or do you fold, eliminating the risk, but also the potential reward? This question is impossible to answer in a general matter, as every situation is different and the factors are always changing.

For instance, say you are in the early stages of a tournament and four people saw the flop. One pushes all-in, another calls, and the last one folds. Here you might want to call, figuring that if you hit your draw you will have a huge chip advantage over the other players at the table. In another situation, you might be in a cash game and decide that you donâ€™t have the pot odds to make the call and thereafter fold your hand. Whenever you are debating chasing a draw, you should be able to properly justify your decision if a friend of yours asks why you chased.

Suited connectors are a very rewarding hand, but they are also very dangerous. Players take them too far, calling too many bets, playing them from bad, and overplaying them when they do make their hand, only to be beaten by a better straight or flush, sometimes even a full house. Keep your attention on the game, play your cards from good position, and take advantage of your opponentsâ€™ weaknesses.